Despite Covid-19 restrictions and the mayor’s disapproval, a soccer tournament featuring hundreds of players took place in Phoenix, Arizona.
The Desert Super Cup is a yearly youth soccer tournament that happens over Thanksgiving weekend.
This year’s tournament featured 460 out-of-state teams and 40 in-state teams.
“Absolutely fantastic news,” said Phoenix City Council member Sal DiCiccio in a tweet. “The 800 kid soccer tournament will still be held in Phoenix this coming weekend. They are coming here because they had been banned everywhere else and we have amazing facilities. We welcome you and your families to our great city!”
Games were played in Scottsdale and Mesa. The total number of players in the tournament wasn’t confirmed.
Technically, Arizona has banned public events with more than 50 people, but the state left some wiggle room, that allows local officials to bypass the law if they approve the event.
The Phoenix City Council has the ability to call the tournament off but has not done so even though Mayor Kate Gallego expressed her disapproval of the event.
“I am gravely concerned about COVID-19 in our community,” Gallego said in a statement. “With infections now at the second-highest daily number ever, it is clear the status quo is not working. We all need to be aware that the public health situation has changed dramatically in the last few weeks.”
Arizona has had over 300,000 cases of Covid-19 with more than half of them in Maricopa County where Phoenix is located.
As of Wednesday, there were 2,439 new cases in Maricopa County alone.
Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said this week that the latest rise in Covid-19 cases is driven by people without symptoms gathering indoors.
The CDC has recommended that Americans not travel for Thanksgiving, and public health officials have generally urged people to celebrate the holiday only with members of the same household.